![]() Completely loose in altitude was tricky, as balance changed with scope angle.Ĥ. I got a new Gitzo series 3 aluminum tripod that helps out on this account.ģ. Very transparent skies and pleasurable viewing. Very nice! I'll be very interested to see how the Side-Mount version works for you.įinally got out tonight to test the Wimberley Side-Mount. Those are living room impressions, I hope to get it out tonight. I did not notice any stiction when tension was employed. Tension seemed to be retained well as the scope was moved around.ħ. Reiterating points 3 and 4, while it is possible to set ideal tension, it does involve some pretty small tweaks to the tension knobs.Ħ. In fact, I had the tension set so I could take out and reinsert a 600g eyepiece from my short refractor without any scope movement, and movement was still smooth and easy. It is possible to tune the friction so movement is smooth and the scope does not nosedive when imperfectly balanced. The lock knobs are very positive, only about 1/2 - 3/4 of a turn to go from fully locked to fully loose.Ĥ. Movement is very fluid on both axes with no looseness observed.ģ. Cost was high, but fit and finish do not disappoint.Ģ. I did test this mount out in the living room with my scope attached. It seems to be a hidden jewel of a mount and it looks pretty cool too. A lot is said about them by photographers, but you don't see much said about them with regards to astronomy use. With my Pentax SDHF 75mm, Coronado SM60 and binoviewers onboard, it hardly notices the 9 lb. Once balanced (which is easy) it stays where you put it, is rock solid and has very smooth movement. After all, they receive high praise from photographers that use long/big telephoto lenses (and they should at $600).Īnyway, after putting it through it's paces for a couple of weeks, I'm impressed. Recently, I found a used Wimberley Gimbal mount at a decent price and thought I might as well give it a try. I have also tried various alt-az mounts, including a Unitron, Takahashi/lapides, Discmount & others. In the past I've used a standard video head on a tripod, but was never satisfied. I am a big fan of a driven equatorial, but there is something to say for a quick grab-and-go, especially for low-power solar views where nudging is infrequent. For some time now(years), I have been looking for an alt-az mount for solar observing.
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